Measure for Cabinet Doors: A How to Guide

Measure for cabinet doors the right way first, and you will save yourself from headaches later. There are many ways to mess up when recording these crucial measurements. Mistakes cost money so you want to make sure you do it right, the first time. In this blog, we will review our step by step video on how to measure for cabinet doors. Watching the video and reading this blog should be more than enough. You will be measuring for your new doors like a pro in no time at all!

Measure for Cabinet Doors: Getting Started

The first thing you need to do is gather up the necessary tools. For this portion of the project, that is quite simple. To measure for cabinet doors, all you need is paper, a pencil and tape measure. We recommend graph paper, as it will help keep your drawings straight. Once you are ready, pick out a section of cabinets to start with. Focus on completing one full section at a time. Grab your paper and pencil and start by drawing out these cabinets. Draw out any openings there may be. Openings include those for doors, drawers and even breadboards. It is important to take note of double doors and single doors. Double doors are two doors that have no stile between them. A stile is the vertical piece of wood between doors. Single doors are single because they will always have a stile.

With your cabinets drawn out, you are now ready to measure the openings. We always recommend measuring from left to right and top to bottom. Sticking to a plan like this will help you keep track of what you have and have not yet measured. When you measure for cabinet doors, you want to measure the width first, then height. This helps to determine the factory standard for which way the grain will go. You do not need to remove the doors or drawer fronts to measure your openings. Simply open the doors and pull out the drawers far enough to reach the openings. Two people are highly recommended for measuring. One person can take the actual measurements and the other can write it all down. This may seem like a little much but it helps to make sure numbers are recorded more correctly.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

When measuring a bank of drawers, although the stack will likely have the same width, you need to measure each opening. You never know when they might differ in size. With all of your openings measured, it is time to add your overlay. The overlay is the amount that a door overhangs the opening. Our standard is ½”. For example, if your opening is 12” x 16” and you have an overlay of ½”. You want to add one inch to both the height and width. This will ensure your doors and drawers are the correct size. Forgetting to add the overlay is mistake that is sometimes made. When you measure for cabinet doors, it is important to double and triple check everything you do. Be sure to check out the rest of our blogs and follow us on social media for everything Outside the Box!